Why Is Luckin Coffee Rolling Out Oven-Heated Light Meals?

Luckin Coffee has begun offering oven-heated light meals, such as cranberry bagels, at selected stores, and customers have responded warmly, especially during cold weather when hot food is more appealing. The change, however, has raised concerns among store staff, who say heating food adds workload and cleaning tasks to an already busy shift schedule.

Most Luckin stores lack ovens and related food-handling qualifications, so sandwiches are typically only thawed, not heated. Employees who received internal notices say the meal-heating service could expand beyond a few flagship locations, shifting how the chain pairs food with coffee and adding pressure on store operations.

Recently, Luckin Coffee has become the center of attention for offering oven-heated light meals such as bagels at some stores. Consumers have welcomed the move, saying that being able to enjoy hot food during the cold season feels more thoughtful. However, this change has put pressure on many store employees, who worry about the added workload and cleaning tasks. This article explores the background of Luckin's oven rollout, employee feedback, and the possible impact, giving you the full picture of the situation.

To cater to consumers' eating habits, many chain coffee brands offer light meals such as sandwiches and bagels to pair with coffee, and Luckin Coffee is no exception. But since most Luckin stores are not equipped with ovens or other heating equipment, the sandwiches sold in stores are usually only thawed, which may be of limited appeal to customers craving hot food during the cold winter.

However, a netizen in Guangzhou recently shared a set of photos, saying they had enjoyed a heated cranberry bagel at a newly opened Luckin store. The photos show the staff placing the bagel ordered by the customer on a baking tray, putting it into the oven to heat, and finally packing it up to hand to the customer.

This thoughtful service quickly boosted consumers' goodwill toward the brand and made other netizens who could not enjoy hot bread envious, with many calling on the company to equip stores nationwide with ovens as soon as possible, so that people who buy coffee early in the morning can get a caffeine boost while also enjoying a warm sandwich.

Just as consumers were curious and hopeful about Luckin rolling out ovens, a veteran Luckin employee pointed out that as early as May this year, a netizen had seen staff heating bagels with an oven at a store in Jiangwanli, Shanghai. However, if a store is to be equipped with food-processing equipment such as ovens, it needs to add the relevant business qualifications, so most people believed ovens would only appear in a small number of special stores such as newly opened flagship locations and would not be rolled out on a large scale.

But unlike the previous rumor, Luckin employees who have received internal notices say the meal-heating service users have been hoping for may become a reality before long. According to screenshots shared by employees, the company recently assigned Luckin staff in regions such as Zhejiang a quick oven guidance learning task, so they can get a head start on the oven's usage and cleaning procedures.

With pictures as proof, Luckin employees who had thought ovens were far away from them suddenly felt a sense of crisis. Many pictured the busy scene of washing the coffee machine and syrup machine after closing and then still having to wash the oven, and lamented in the comments, "Can you please not roll out ovens?" Some spoke bluntly, saying, "If they really roll it out, I'll just quit" and "If they roll it out, I'm running away," joking that "only one of us can stay—the oven or me," showing how strongly they resist the rollout of ovens in stores.

Many Luckin employees admit they can understand consumers' desire for hot bread, but the thought of an extra step of heating light meals once a store has one more oven makes them feel great pressure. They say the oven not only makes the production process more cumbersome but also adds to daily cleaning tasks.

Optimists, however, believe that since the company has not yet given definitive word, the full rollout of ovens across Luckin stores may still take a turn, and say employees need not worry too much before the dust settles.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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